‘APC’ll ensure level-playing ground for contestants’

Hon. Wasiu Sanni-Eshilokun is the Secretary of the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, he speaks on zoning and the preparations for primaries.

How prepared is the party for the primaries?

The most important thing is that we are going to conduct our party primaries in accordance with the laid down rules. This will be done according to the directives of the executive of the party. We want to assure everybody that there will be a level-playing ground and everybody will be carried along. At present, we are working on the guidelines for the congresses and the national convention. So, we are going to conduct the primaries according to the directives of the party.

What is the assurance that your party will sweep the poll next year?

For us in the APC, we know that the election is about the people. It is about what you have been able to bring to the table. What did you achieve in the education sector? What are your achievements in infrastructural development such as roads, health and what have you? When we look at our score card in Lagos State, I have no doubt that we have met the aspiration of the people.

There are calls for consensus candidates to foster unity in the party. What is your position?

In every party, even in developed part of the world, they also use consensus. Even where consensus arrangement is adopted, the primaries will still hold to satisfy those opposed to the arrangement even if they are in minority.because . This is allowed because we are in democracy. When majority decides, the minority is still allowed to have their say. It is their right. I want to say they still have to go to the primaries and what we are doing at this level is to make sure that everything works according to the rules of the party. Even where there is a consensus, there would still be need for a convention, where the consensus candidate has to be affirmed. The affirmation must be more than those saying nay. Where there is none, we are going to conduct primaries. How is the party handing the issue of zoning and religion?

The party in its wisdom has zoned the governorship position to Lagos East. But, what we are saying is that if there is anybody from the Lagos Central and Lagos West that there should be primaries, because they are contesting. Nobody has shut the doors against such aspirants. We are not going to say don’t contest because you are from Lagos Island or Mainland. There will still be primaries. The party has just given a policy directive. We are not going to exclude the person because you are from Lagos Central. We will allow him to go to the primaries. All those who showed interest will be allowed to go through the primaries and basically the decision lies with members of the party. The APC will hold its primaries and there will be a national convention. All those who signify interest in any elective position will be allowed to contest at the primaries.

People have accused the APC of lacking internal mechanism for crisis resolution…

It is normal that some people felt aggrieved with the outcome of the recent congresses at the ward and local government levels. In this type of situation, all we should do is to reconcile. The party is not resting on its oars. I can assure you that all our aggrieved party members will be reconciled.

Do you have confidence that INEC under Prof. Attahiru Jega will conduct credible elections next year?

The National Assembly should do what is right; it must remove INEC from appendage of the Federal Government. It must ensure that it has independent revenue to be able to perform its statutory responsibilities without interference. INEC must not wait for the Presidency to be able to function. It must be removed from the appendages of the Federal Government. It must be made financially buoyant and independent to function well. INEC’s finances must be taken from the collective wealth of the nation. That is when you can say that this INEC will be independent or what have you. The mode of appointing people into INEC does not augur well for democracy. The National Assembly must look at all of these. It should look at how people are appointed to the body and ensure that those who are not politically affiliated are the ones who get into the electoral body. Appointment into INEC should be based purely on professional grounds and not by political party affiliation. When you have biased people as members of INEC, you cannot be too sure they will conduct credible election. My appeal as they are considering the amendment of the constitution, they must consider the act that establishes INEC. They must ensure that INEC is truly independent.

The PDP appears to be on resurgence in the Southwest. Would it constitute a serious threat in next year’s general elections?

Let me say that the movement is not based on popular will. It is based on imagination. In Ekiti, what they did prior to the election by arresting some leaders of the APC is bad. They created fear in the minds of the people. They used the police and soldiers to intimidate the people who would have voted for the APC. The same thing was repeated in Osun, but the APC was wiser; we were able to re-orientate our members, to ensure there is no power vacuum. It is something like, if Mr. A was arrested Mr. B should take over and continue the mobilisation and if B is arrested Mr. C should take over and must not be cowed. The Nigeria police and army must not begin to subvert the will of the Nigerian people. It cannot continue this way.

In Ekiti, the local governments created by your party were scrapped by the new government. How do you see this?

That is a gross misconduct. What he should have done was to create another law or send a bill to the Ekiti State House of Assembly to abrogate the law that created the local government. In democracy, you must obey the laws of the land. If you don’t send another bill to the House to abrogate it, your action would be null and void. It is only the House that can do that. Otherwise you wait till the time when you have control of the assembly before you do that.